In the field of nail care, resinous nail products, such as those made of acrylic, are used to prepare what is called "sculptured fingernails", which are artificial polymeric fingernails formed on and adhered to the natural nails. These sculptured nails are typically longer and more beautiful than the person's natural nails and are capable of being painted with fingernail polish or left natural. Since the polymeric nail is firmly attached to the fingernail, it moves with natural nail growth. Consequently there is, therefore, a gap formed at the base of the natural nail free of the polymeric nail. This gap is periodically patched with new material by the manicurist. At the time of patching or repairing the sculptured nails (also called "filling"), the end of the sculptured nail near the base of the fingernail is often lifted off the natural nail in an unbecoming fashion. Furthermore, there is a danger of mold and fungus growing underneath the nail which has become unattached, as well as the possibility of the polymeric nails breaking away from the fingernail. Wet conditions are conducive to such growth. Therefore, all loose nail portions must be removed to alleviate the probability of such fungus or mold growth and also they provide a clean surface for applying the new nail material.
The manicurist, at the time of repairing the sculptured nail, will first clip the polymeric nail at the lifted end to smooth the surface in preparation for applying additional polymeric material. The sculptured nail, being hard and of low flexibility, often flies outwardly with great force when clipped. These free-flying pieces of material have been known to fly in the faces or at the bodies of the customer and the manicurist, sometimes causing injury. Eye injuries and subsequent eye infections have been known to be caused by flying pieces of nail.
To guard against possible eye injury caused by these free-flying pieces, the customer and/or manicurist have been known to wear safety goggles. However, safety goggles presents a problem when the goggles smear the wearer's eye makeup. In addition, the goggles do nothing to protect the rest of the wearer's face or body and do nothing to protect bystanders from flying chip of nails.
Relevant products in the manicuring field are found described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,289,152, 4,359,060, and 4,742,836. U.S. Pat. No. 4,289,152 issued to Fuhre on Sept. 15, 1981, discloses a fingernail cleaning apparatus which includes a housing with an aperture for inserting a finger. The apparatus also includes a nozzle member which provides an edge for pushing back the skin at the tip of the finger so that pressurized liquid from a pump can be directed against the inside surface of the nail instead of being deflected by the skin.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,359,060 issued to Walker on Nov. 16, 1982, discloses an apparatus for dispensing nail polish and remover from the bottles of same without spilling the contents over rugs, clothes or furniture. The apparatus is comprised of a housing residing atop a base, the housing having two opposed side walls, the remaining sides being open to allow access to the bottles which are held within pivotally mounted receptacles on the interior of the side walls.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,836 issued to Buehler on May 10, 1988, discloses a fingernail device which includes a receptacle having a small diameter fluid passageway positioned at an angle to the base of the receptacle. The passageway has a nozzle which directs fluid at a downward angle to the upper surface of the base of the receptacle. Joined to the upper surface of the base of the receptacle is a fluid deflector. The deflector acts to intercept any cleaning fluid which may splash from, or spray out from the receptacle. None of these above-described patents is directed at shielding people from flying pieces of sculptured nails.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a manicure shield in accordance with the present invention which protects the customer, manicurist, and any on-lookers from flying pieces of sculptured nails clipped from the customer's nails.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a manicure shield which rests securely on a flat surface, is easy to assemble and can be assembled before the customer arrives, and can be made to be easily disassembled into a relatively flat piece for storage.